Where Does the DC Extended Universe Go From Here?

DC’s first attempt at bringing its biggest stars together on the big screen, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, came out this week, and the reactions have been uneven, at best. The critics weren’t very into it, with scores of 29% and 44 from rotten tomatoes and metacritic respectively. But people still showed up to see it. It’s expected to take in $170 million this weekend, the sixth best opening ever. So does Warner Bros. look at the box office numbers and stay the course or do they take something from the bad reviews and try something different? What does the future hold for the DC Extended Universe movie series.

First off, what was wrong with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice? It was by no means a disaster. It just wasn’t all that interesting either. Was Ben Affleck the problem? Not at all. He was a very convincing Batman and Bruce Wayne. And you can tell he’s personally invested in these movies. He wants them to be good. Watch him react to questions about the poor reviews.

So are we going to see Ben Affleck get his own Batman movie. Affleck has signed on to direct a DC movie which is most likely going to be a solo Batman movie. He’s writing it with veteran DC comics writer Geoff Johns as well. That’s good sign as Johns has been successful bringing the Green Arrow and The Flash to TV. There’s no official announcement but expect this to happen.

If you didn’t know, Wonder Woman is also in this movie, and she was one of its best features. Gal Gadot was a real highlight as the ageless superhero. The good news is there’s already a solo movie for her in the works. In fact, it’s filming right now with an expected release date of June 23, 2017. Chris Pine and Robin Wright co star with Gadot in what looks like a prequel to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Based on the little we saw of her, Wonder Woman is a movie to pay attention to.

Wonder Woman isn’t the next DC movie on the schedule though. Remember, Suicide Squadcomes out in a few months. We’ve seen a couple of trailers already and it looks good. But where does it fit in this universe. It appears tonally, to be very different from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Suicide Squad looks like much more fun while Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is overly serious. Will this be a good thing or will this shift take away from the momentum towards The Justice League.

Yes, The Justice League. That’s the ultimate plan. Justice League Part One and Justice League Part Two are set to come out in 2017 and 2019. So obviously Batman and Superman were in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and we told you that Wonder Woman was in it already, but we also got first looks at three more Justice League members. I’m sure we’ll get a bigger introduction from these guys in Justice League Part One.

Inbetween the Justice League movies are planned solo movies for The Flash and Aquaman in 2018. Dc does have a full schedule planned for their characters. They’re going to have to do a better job if they want to maintain the financial success of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Hopefully Suicide Squad will be a good start.